US stocks stumbled in their attempt to keep the “Santa Claus” rally alive post-Christmas.

Flat and Steady: The S&P 500 took the scenic route to nowhere on Thursday, staying flat while the Russell 2000 rallied with a 0.7% gain. Small caps took center stage, leaving the Nasdaq 100 with a quiet 0.1% dip. The Dow notched its fifth straight win on Thursday, up a modest +0.07%…

⚡ Closing Bell:

• Dow Jones: ⬆️ +0.07% to 43,325.8 — Financials and healthcare gave it a nudge.

• S&P 500: Flat at 4,373.20 — Advance-decline line stays positive for a third day.

• Nasdaq: ⬇️ -0.1% to 15,011.8 — Tesla and Amazon weighed on the tech-heavy index.

• Russell 2000: ⬆️ +0.7% to 1,754.34 — Small caps delivered the day’s energy.

Sector Highlights:

• Best Performer ✅: Consumer Staples — Defensive names stayed on top.

• Biggest Decliner ❌: Consumer Discretionary — Tesla (-1.8%) and Amazon (-0.9%) led the laggards.

❄️ 🎅 Santa Claus Rally… or Not?
The “Santa Claus rally” typically delivers a festive boost, with the S&P 500 averaging a 1.3% gain during this season. But this year, the magic seems dimmed as rising yields, faltering megacap stocks, and the Fed’s cautious outlook on 2025 rate cuts weigh on the markets. With light volumes and a cautious mood, the rally seems to be catching its breath.

Economic News

• Retail Sales: Holiday shopping came in hot, driven by value-seeking consumers. Mastercard reported e-commerce boomed during the season’s biggest promotions.

• Jobless Claims: Weekly applications dipped to 219,000, showing a labor market still holding firm despite seasonal quirks.

Yields Make a Move
The 10-year Treasury yield touched 4.64%, its highest since May, before easing slightly to 4.58% after a strong 7-year note auction. Rising yields traditionally hurt growth stocks, and the tech sector felt the pressure.

#TRUTH:
❗❗❗ “But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” ~
The Old Man and the Sea

How may I help you?

2025 is all about AI agents, the next big thing in artificial intelligence. Think of them as your digital sidekick, handling tasks like booking flights, sorting emails, and even managing expense reports (finally, freedom from that dreaded chore).

What’s the Big Deal?
Tech giants like Microsoft, Nvidia, and Google are leading the charge, pitching AI agents as the ultimate productivity boosters for both offices and personal life. These aren’t just chatbots—they’re action-oriented AI tools that work behind the scenes, pulling in data and making decisions fast.

Take Microsoft, for example:

• IT self-help success jumped +36%, and

• Revenue per seller increased +9.4%, thanks to its AI-powered tools.

Or Google’s Project Mariner, which can browse the web, grab emails, and complete tasks in real-time. It’s still in the prototype stage, but early demos suggest serious potential to eliminate mindless copy-pasting forever.

Even Apple’s Siri is stepping up its game. With updates to Apple Intelligence, Siri will soon check emails for flight times, map traffic, and tell you exactly when to leave to pick someone up from the airport.

The Road Ahead
Don’t expect these high-powered agents to replace your to-do list overnight. Experts predict that 2025 will start with “boring agents” handling back-office tasks, while more sophisticated, multitasking AI assistants will take a bit longer to go mainstream.

But with tech giants pouring resources into AI agents, it’s only a matter of time before these digital helpers become as essential as your morning coffee. Ready or not, the AI revolution is about to get a whole lot smarter.

U-Turn ♻️

2024 saw a seismic shift in strategy from Europe’s energy giants—BP, Shell, and Equinor—as they pumped the brakes on their green energy ambitions. Instead of chasing wind and solar dreams, they doubled down on oil and gas, chasing profits in a world still grappling with high energy costs.

BP, for instance, abandoned its aggressive renewable goals, spinning off offshore wind projects into a joint venture with Japan’s JERA. Meanwhile, Shell shelved its plans to dominate electricity markets, weakened carbon reduction targets, and pulled out of European and Chinese power markets. Even Norway’s Equinor slowed its renewables spending, citing supply chain bottlenecks and inflationary pressures.

Translation? It’s hard to think green when there’s black gold to mine.

What’s Next for Big Oil?
While this retreat may boost short-term profits, challenges loom:

• China’s Oil Appetite: The world’s biggest crude importer is seeing demand growth slow, with signs that gasoline and diesel consumption may have peaked.

• OPEC Supply Cuts: Prolonged production limits have kept prices steady but could tighten profit margins further.

• Debt Rising: Net debt for the top five Western oil companies is expected to climb to $148 billion in 2024, up from $92 billion in 2022.

With 2025 shaping up to be another tumultuous year, oil giants are banking on black gold to sustain them—but the cracks in this strategy may start to show.

🧩 Movers:

Spotlight ✅ / At the Bottom ❌

• ✅ Starbucks (+2.2%): Shares perked up after employees ended a five-day strike that disrupted stores across 43 states.

• ✅ Broadcom (+2.4%): A star player on the Nasdaq.

• ✅ Apple: Bucked the trend with a +0.3% gain, inching closer to a $4 trillion market cap.

• ❌ Tesla (-1.8%): A not-so-festive dip, ranking among the S&P 500’s worst performers.

• ❌ Six of the “Magnificent Seven” closed in the red.

• ❌ Cintas (-1.7%): Uniform supplier struggled to fit into the holiday cheer.

Retailers had their moment in the sun, dominating the leaderboard:

• ✅ Walgreens Boots Alliance (+5.33%)

• ✅ Dollar Tree (+3.84%)

• ✅ Target (+3.01%)

• ✅ Best Buy (+2.87%)

Commodities Check: ✔️

• Oil: ⬇️ -0.7% to $69.6 per barrel — still in a post-Christmas slump.

• Gold: ⬆️ +0.7% to $2,653.70 per ounce.

• Silver: ⬆️ +0.4% to $30.42 per ounce.
  

Get a Serious Trading Platform and a Sweet Bonus.
» Find out more

The stinger

Disclaimer

This letter is not offering investment, trading, or investment advice nor is based on any individual portfolio or business operation. We are not a registered investment, stock nor commodity advisor. One should consult with their own registered advisor to discuss investment strategies that are appropriate for their business or personal goals, risk tolerance and financial situation. Information in this report and on any website is derived from a variety of source believed to be reliable however no representation is made that the information is accurate, complete or correct. These lessons, newsletter and site content is not intended nor shall not constitute or be construed as an offer or recommendation to “buy”, “sell”, “trade” or invest in any securities, commodities, futures, options or other asset referred to in said lessons, reports or newsletters. Rather, this research is intended to identify situations and circumstances that those in the trading community should be aware of to better help assess and improve their own risk management skills.